When Rose arrived at the laboratory the next day, she was fully prepared.

She had donned her armor of indifference, ready to face the snide remarks, gossip, and whispers she expected along the way. However, she was pleasantly surprised to find none of that.

On the contrary, the people around her had shifted into two distinct attitudes.

Either they avoided her entirely, not even daring to step into the same elevator, or they were excessively accommodating to the point of being cloying, especiall